This invention relates to user interfaces in general, and to a telephony user interface in particular.
Mark-up languages are languages for defining the content and structure (layout) of electronic documents. Most of the markup languages in use today are versions of the Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML), which is a meta-language (a language for describing languages) standardized by the International Standards Organization (ISO). Examples of mark-up languages include the Hyper-Text Mark-up Language (HTML) which is an electronic publishing language that is used to define pages of information on the World Wide Web, Virtual Reality Mark-up Language (VRML) which is used to deliver three-dimensional images through the Internet, and Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) which is an abbreviated and simplified version of SGML that is designed to make information self-describing, and thus make it easier to define document types and to write programs to handle them.
Mark-up languages are most often used to describe electronic documents to browsers, although other applications can be used as clients. Their use allows the documents to be changed without impacting the browser, and allows the same browser to be used with different Web sites irrespective of server technology. The same type of flexibility is desirable for user interfaces. The desire is to be able to create user interfaces that can be changed or extended, or integrated with user interfaces of different other systems, without changes to the underlying systems.
The Mozilla organization of Netscape Communications Corporation has attempted to do this for graphical interfaces by defining the XML-based User Interface Language (XUL). XUL is an application of XML; it is XML with specific meanings defined for a few element types, and into which HTML and JavaScript can be scattered. XUL is designed to be used to define and develop graphical user interfaces (GUIs) which will work on multiple platforms (cross-platform GUIs). An additional benefit of designing a GUI in XUL is that it may be easily modified or expanded (added-to). However, not all platforms have, or can have, a GUI. A prime example are platforms like voice messaging systems and interactive voice response systems that interact with users via telephones and therefore must utilize a telephony user interface (TUI) made up of BDTMF (Touch-Tone) signals and/or spoken instructions. Since XUL is designed for GUIs only, XUL does not provide its benefits to these platforms.
Conversely, voice XML (VXML, XML combined with voice-recognition technology) is being used by a consortium of companies to provide a telephony user interface (TUI) to Web content. However, not all platforms have, or can have, a TUI. A prime example is conventional Web browsers, which are not voice-enabled. Since VXML is designed for TUI only, VXML does not provide its benefits to these platforms.
This invention is directed to solving the deficiencies of the prior art. Generally according to the invention, there is provided an arrangement for implementing user interfaces that is independent of the particular user interface or even the type of user interface (e.g., GUI or TUI) and that is also independent of the application being interfaced to as well as of the user device that is being interfaced. These dependencies are hidden from the arrangement by entities (e.g., data, plug-ins) that the arrangement can call on to implement a particular user interface, thereby leaving the arrangement generic. To modify an interface or to implement a new interface, only the referred-to entities need to be changed, but not the arrangement itself.
Specifically according to the invention, a user interface to an application is implemented as follows. A description document that defines a desired user interface comprising one or more definition elements (e.g., display pages, announcement menus) and a description document defining interaction of the user interface with the application and comprising one or more interaction elements (e.g., API functions) are generated, preferably in a markup language and a scripting language so that the user interface and changes thereto can be effected without a need to use and modify source code, and are stored. Both documents conform to a user interface object model. Also stored are a plurality of layout objects each comprising a control for rendering a different definition element, and a plurality of connector objects each comprising a control for rendering a different interaction element. The stored information hides dependenciesxe2x80x94on the type of interface, the interface device, and the applicationxe2x80x94from the arrangement that actually creates the interface (referred to herein as an interactor). Then, to actually create the interface, the description documents are reflected into the object model to generate an instance of the object model that defines the user interface and comprises the definition elements and the interaction elements (illustratively expressed as markup and scripting language tags) of the description documents, and the corresponding layout object or connector object for each element in the object model instance is downloaded from storage and made accessible to its corresponding element, e.g., by the object registering its interface in the instance of the object model. The downloaded objects form a layout engine and a connector engine for the user interface. Thus, both the layout and connector engines are downloaded and created from parts as needed, as opposed to being fixed, thereby giving the arrangement great versatility and independence. Execution of each downloaded object is then invoked with the corresponding element of the object model; that is, each element of the object model instance is passed to its corresponding object in the engines and the object is executed to cause the object to render the element, thereby effecting the user interface to the application. Illustratively, for ease of access, each element is represented by a name, a URL and/or an XML tag.
Preferably, a plurality of description documents, defining a plurality of different user interfacesxe2x80x94be they different interfaces to the same application or interfaces to different applicationsxe2x80x94is stored. These are then used to generate the object models for the different interfaces. Also stored then are a plurality of layout and connector objects comprising controls for rendering the different types of elements of the plurality of user interfaces, which can be downloaded as needed. The arrangement is thus ready to generate any and all of the defined interfaces. To generate one of the defined interfaces, the arrangement engages in processing (rendering, etc.) of that interface""s description documents as recited above.
The arrangement facilitates creation of user interfaces for new applications, creation of new user interfaces for applications, and modification of existing user interfaces. For example, to create an existing user interface for a new application, the existing layout engine of the user interface may be reused, the existing connector engine must be supplemented with connector objects for any new interaction elements introduced by the new application, and the interaction description document must be rewritten. To create a new user interface for an existing application, the layout engine of the existing user interface must be supplemented with layout objects for any new definition elements introduced by the new interface, and the interface description document must be rewritten. To modify an existing user interface of an application, the existing connector and layout engines may be reused, and only the interface description document must be rewritten. And to create a user interface for a new access device, a new interface description document and new layout objects for the new device must be created. (The interactor may also have to be ported to a new operating system.) Also, a plurality of user interfaces can share description documents and objects, thus simplifying the effort of writing additional user interfaces.
While the invention has been characterized in terms of method, it also encompasses apparatus that performs the method. The apparatus preferably includes an effectorxe2x80x94any entity that effects the corresponding step, unlike a meansxe2x80x94for each step. The invention further encompasses any computer-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed in a computer, cause the computer to perform the method steps.